Archive for social media marketing

Do you know about LinkedIn blogs? And are you blogging yet on LinkedIn? I’m not yet, but I will be right after I write this blog post!

Since early 2014, LinkedIn opened its publishing platform to its 300+ million users. Here is your chance to show your expertise in your professional life and without character restrictions! The importance of using a LinkedIn blog is that it will add dimension and help in building a well-documented profile.

According to Business 2 Community, in-depth content works best, don’t hesitate to write very detailed and specific posts about your industry. Contrary to what you are being told for traditional blog posts, the ones being picked up by Pulse (LinkedIn’s app to shed some lights on the best contributions) are pretty wordy with almost no visual. Indeed, you should opt for a newspaper-like kind of formatting. Black text on a white background.

Here’s the real upside, once you publish, all of your contacts will be notified of your posting and again, remind your connections that you are indeed an expert in your field.

Recruiters will notice you as well. Now, that may not seem like a big deal if you already have a job, but, recruiters are looking for more than potential employees. Let’s say, for instance, you are a career coach or a leadership development consultant. You may be writing a post about the benefits of hiring an expert, such as yourself and a recruiter happens to read your blog post, this could lead to consulting work for you within that company that the recruiter works for.There’s not a lot of folks blogging yet on LinkedIn, yet. It’s still a fairly open marketplace for your expertise. Publishing on LinkedIn will give you a real edge, and you should start now while there isn’t much competition.

LinkedIn is not just about your expertise (although we’d like to think that some times), but it’s about others as well. Here is a golden opportunity for you to get new business contacts, build meaningful relationships and so on. If you’re writing on a regular basis and your writing is of value, even 3rd degree connections may possibly invite you to connect. The possibilities can be endless with just one simple blog post.

Just think of all of those comments! Just think of all of those conversations you can start and get involved in. Besides, that is what “social media” is all about. We forget that sometimes. It’s about the conversation, it’s about being social.

Guest Author: Christine Buffaloe is a social media wizard for authors, coaches, speakers and consultants. Her company SerenityVA will help you succeed with social media and LinkedIn, including what you need to know about posting to your LinkedIn blog. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and of course, LinkedIn.

Many of my readers are busy professionals who don’t have a lot of time for blogging or social media. But marketing is vital, especially if you’re growing a business, want to get found, get known, and get clients.

For those of you who have the bare minimum of time, and still want to get results, here are a few social media tips and tricks I’ve used. I must be doing something right: these tips have resulted in new clients directly from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Many people who fell prey to the Auto-feed short-cut introduced by Facebook found that it did much more harm than good. And it’s understandable why they did it: how can you have time for social media, when you struggle with creating consistent, relevant blog content?

While it may have saved time initially, there were costs in the long run. The same is true for auto-feeds to LinkedIn, Twitter, and all the other social media sites. Although this seems like a good idea, it may do you more harm than good.

Here are 4 reasons why you should NOT automatically feed your blog posts into these social media sites: Read More→

Let’s face it; sometimes it’s hard to draw people’s attention away from their many social media accounts. I know that I’m guilty of not being willing to leave the social media site I’m browsing to visit an outside blog or article. So how do we as blog writers get people to leave the social media bubble and head on over to our blog to read and then share what they read on social media?

Here are a few ideas to get reader’s eyes off of their Facebook or Twitter page and onto your blog: Read More→

Although you may have made excellent written content a part of your marketing strategy, it’s important to remember that there is more to social media than just writing a great post or article. In fact, one of the most important aspects of social networking is much more visual and not as textual as you might think.

The most popular shared items across all social networks are pictures, which shouldn’t be too surprising, given how many images we see on the web in a day. If you want your content to be not only seen but shared, it will be important to consider making image sharing a significant aspect of your game plan. Where should you start? Well, with Pinterest of course! Read More→

How can you use Social Media tips when you’re away from the office for a week?

What can you do to stay in touch with your clients when you’re out of town on a trip or vacation? I’ve been playing hooky: I went to a tennis ranch in Texas where we played tennis six hours a day. I was able to schedule publishing on my client blogs ahead of time, but my own blog suffered.

The good news is that it got me thinking about shortcuts and what can be done to extend your reach of online content marketing using social media tips.

Many of my readers are busy professionals who don’t have a lot of time. The danger of sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is that they can suck you in and spit you out hours later… and time is money.

For those of you who have the bare minimum of time, and still want to get results, here are a few social media tips. Please feel free to join in and add other tips in the comments section. I must be doing something right: these tips have resulted in new clients directly from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Read More→

Does blogging still make sense for your business? Is a business blog worth the time you need to research, write, format and publish quality content?

Some busy professionals ask me if it’s worth it to blog or would keeping in touch with people through social media sites work just as well? It’s a good question, particularly for small businesses, coaches and consultants who don’t have staff and a lot of time.

Publishing a quality blog requires time and effort. The average person needs at least two hours to complete all the tasks necessary for one blog post, and should be publishing 2-3 times a week.

Ten years ago, when I first started blogging I declared a blog to be “The best darn marketing tool on the planet!” It was if someone had handed me a microphone and people across the globe started hearing what I had to say. I started getting found online and boosted my business revenues exponentially.

But ten years later, there are a lot of ways to spread your word and publish quality content online. Communication is possible everywhere. Clients can be reached through Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter – the list goes on. Read More→

Producing expert ebooks has never been simpler, and promoting them has never been easier. Really? Yes, I did say “easier.”

Since social media has come into being, the way you promote your expert ebook is, in fact, a whole lot easier. It’s not just about promoting your ebook, it’s about promoting YOU! Yes, you are the expert, not the ebook.

In order to get your e-book in front of as many eyes as possible, you’ll need some patience, a plan and some creative ideas. Here are six tips to get you started:

1. Set Your Social Media in Motion

Just because you say you’re an expert, you have to have branded yourself as one. You should have a presence on social media and you have been active as well (if not, you’d better get moving.) If you don’t have time, hire a virtual assistant that is knowledgeable in the different platforms.

2. Set up Your Author Page on Amazon

Even if you’re working with a publishing house, make sure your own ‘house’ is in order. Yes, your Amazon house. Amazon is another social media site. You can go to Amazon Author Central to create your account. Once you have done that, you can feed your blog into your profile, add videos, books from your bibliography and reviews. Remember, it’s not about getting reviews, it’s about giving them as well. Your name will be associated with that review! Read More→

How do you make your business blog really remarkable? Like, fascinating?

The main goal of writing a blog, whether for business or otherwise, is to get people to read what you write. Seems pretty simple. But attracting readers to a new blog (or even an established one) is easier said than done.

1. Keep up with current events – while you shouldn’t always write about what’s going on in the world, using relevant examples and anecdotes lets your readers know that you are knowledgeable.

2. Pay attention to your social media networks – what are people talking about on your social media pages? What are they asking you as a business? Consider using these questions and discussions for blog topics. You’re more likely to engage your customers by writing on topics they clearly are interested in than developing your own. Read More→

You want to Engage your Blog Readers and encourage them to subscribe to your blog and become regular visitors. Ideally, you want to attract a large number of hungry customers who are interested in partaking of this written food for the soul, but how can you rise above the constant online buzz to attract attention to your blog post?

The Internet may be constantly chirping with activity, but that doesn’t mean that all content is worthy of users’ attention in the same manner. According to Neilson.com, there were 181 million blogs around the world at the end of 2011. (In 2006, there were 36 million in existence.)

Don’t let these numbers put you off; it doesn’t mean that all of these blogs are in your niche or that they are producing the same quality content that you are putting out in the blogosphere. If you’re in business, you already know you have competition and that you need to focus on what you offer that is better or different if you are going to attract a customer’s attention or find the best talent.

First, capture a reader’s interest with a compelling headline. One technique is to appeal to the reader’s fear that they may miss out on something important by failing to read your post. Use compelling words to effectively to draw in your audience by giving them a taste of what your post will be about, and make sure that you deliver the content as promised. Read More→